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A recent survey published(June, 2008) by RingCentral shows that many small businesses are having to get creative and cost costs and get creative in order to survive the most recent rounds of rising energy costs and economic downturn. The marjority of the businesses responding to the survey responded that they were cutting overhead costs or in some way changing the way they do business in response to these rising costs. It was also noted that in response to the rising loss of jobs, many former employers are now becoming small business owners themselves.
Getting Creative with Remote Work Environments
Key findings of the report show that many(40%) of the responding small businesses are cutting back on office space and encouraging their employees to work from home. While 24% are going for telecommuting work setups, rather than spending the money on driving to work every day. This survey just reinforces the trend we were already seeing in remote/distributed work environments, as more and more companies respond to the economy and rising fuel costs.
Ramona Ramsey-Pinedo’s company, QSED Consulting specializes in resource management for corporations. As she states, “With ever increasing gas prices, I have cut the frequency of in-person client visits. I visit clients quarterly rather than monthly and use the phone to stay connected. Even though our employees work from home, RingCentral gives clients the impression that we are all working out of the same office.”
More and More Small Business Starting Up Each and Everyday
With the upturn in job losses, more and more one time “employees” are now becoming “employers”, opting instead to start their own business and be their own boss, rather than go back into the job hunt. Once again the survey showed that 22% of the people responding started their own business after being “down-sized”.
Even though these businesses may be small one-person shows, operating on tight-budgets, with these new options in hosted virtual phone systems they can still appear like large company, providing
confidence and security to customers calling in.
The phone has been, and remains a key component of any business operation, with 66% of small businesses ranking the phone as their most important business tool, followed by email at 63%. It was also noted that the majority of businesses are now conducting meetings virtually rather than in person in order to save travel and other associated expenses.
As we are seeing the workplace is changing and will continue to change and evolve as various economic conditions, technologies, and we as workers influence and impact that environment we work in. As noted earlier we are seeing more independent and distributed workforces, which provide great opportunities for efficiency and cost savings, but also create infrastructure challenges for the small businesses they work for. We are also seeing more and more former employees becoming business owners, with very unique requirements for communications infrastructures as they, themselves embrace the cost saving efficiencies of the distributed, remote workforce.
With this new workplace, traditional office based phone systems are just not meeting the needs and unique requirements of these environments. That’s where hosted or virtual phone systems are starting to really excel and gain wide acceptance as the new phone communications systems for small businesses. These systems are now connecting entrepreneurs, traveling consultants, contractors, their employees, partners, and customers/clients regardless of where they may be located, and all of this at a fraction of the cost of previous traditional systems.


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Zong is expected to launch 3G services commercially very soon. Zong which is a leading telecom operato in Pakistan opted to launch its 3G and 4G services after some delay as compared to other telecom operators. It is pertinent to mention that currently Zong is the only telecom operator which got the license for 4G services in addition to 3G services in the country.
Zong initially offered its 3G trial services to few thousands of 351 Zong customers in Lahore and has now planned to launch 3G services commercially after a positive feedback.
As per latest information Zong will celebrate the launching ceremony of its 3G at its Zong headquarters very soon.
Zong will initially launch its 3G services in Lahore and Karachi following the next day of launching ceremony. Islamabad will get the Zong 3G services after a week of its launch. Additional cities will be added in the upcoming months.
Zong management is very much excited for the launch of its 3G network to offer its customers high speed streaming videos and internet. Zong will take on Telenor and Ufone in 3G competition.
Maximum speed of Zong 3G Network:-
Beside normal 3G speed Zong SUPER 3G will offer high speed in class technology HSPA plus (High Speed Packet Access). Its maximum speeds is up to 42 Mbps.
Maximum speed of Zong 4G LTE Network:-
Maximum speed of Zong 4G LTE network will be 150 Mbps

domain: news


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The Corona Sunsets Festival World Tour came to Shanghai on Sep 9 and the Bund was transformed into a white sandy beach.
The Zhengda Bingo Festival, a unique night market, was opened on June 30.
Shanghai's nighttime economy continues to rank first among Chinese cities in terms of comprehensive strength.
Shanghai International Resort received 514,400 visitors during the five-day May Day.
Bicester Shanghai Village, which is part of the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone, recently launched a series of themed events to boost consumption.
Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai's Pudong New Area launched a variety of themed events to welcome the New Year and the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Shanghai Village is part of the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone.
An intense heat wave is sweeping through China, and Shanghai has become one of the hottest cities in the country.


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BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- When the market breaks like it did in Shanghai and other Asian markets Tuesday, investors have to ask themselves if this break is a reversal or just a glitch.
If it's a reversal, then high-flying technology stocks in particular are subject to huge declines, since most have more than doubled in the last six months and many have stratospheric price-to-earnings ratios hovering around 100.
Would I get out of the high-flying Chinese Internet stocks? No, because I wouldn't be in them in the first place.
The fact is that the Chinese have done nothing other than copy the best America has to offer, and locals use the local copy rather than the originals. That means others can copy, too.
The hot sites in China are imitations of American initiatives. There is Baidu.com Inc.
The only semi-original site in China is Alibaba.com. It is kind of a generalized clone of the numerous disintermediation sites promoted to death in the late 1990s as the new way everyone was going to do business in the 21st century.
“ The fact is that the Chinese have done nothing other than copy the best America has to offer. ”
The idea was to "disintermediate" the middleman. (In my father's day, the word would have been "eliminate.") That means a lumber mill selling all its output through online contacts and auctions, rather than the old-fashioned way with salesmen and dealmakers.
This was such a bust that the once-popular term "disintermediation" was not even included as a footnote in the discussions of Web 2.0 -- as if this idea never happened.
But in China this idea makes sense, and the global Alibaba site is the clear winner for the e-commerce business there. The rest of the sites, especially the highly popular Baidu search engine, all suffer from a problem that has nothing to do with the Internet.
The problem is there is nothing in China that matches the delivery infrastructure we have in the USA, and this seems to be constantly overlooked.
China does not have a long history of mail order and an evolved delivery infrastructure like we have: UPS, FedEx, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service, messenger bikes, newspaper delivery, trucks, etc.
What China has are huge shipping companies that can send Michaels superstore a cargo container full of wooden birdhouses. This is not the same as UPS delivering a single book. When you deal with Chinese vendors, you'll often find that a minimum order starts at 10,000 units.
The point is that all these e-commerce initiatives in China are handicapped by the lack of a delivery infrastructure like ours, compounded by the fact that most of the customers do not have a lot of disposable income. They look for cheap or free products.
Baidu's popularity, for example, has been attributed to the fact that it has the best search capability for finding bootleg or pirated MP3s. Hard to profit from that.
By the time these companies can achieve the success of an Amazon, eBay or Google, the competition will be everywhere and their head start might be meaningless. There is no reason to believe that the online audience in China is any different than it is here, and here it is fickle.
This downturn is a reality check. It was overdue.


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Poplar designer to the stars launches clothing accessory
- Credit: Archant
What do Shirley Bassey and choreographer Ashley Banjo have in common?
The answer lies here in Poplar with designer Lawrence Goldberg who has designed clothes for the pop superstar and has had his items modelled by the choreographer when he was a child.
But Lawrence, who splits his time between his flat in Morant Street and his studio in Thailand, insists that he likes nothing better than designing for “normal people”, many of whom he has worked with for decades.
“I have become like a family designer and I now make clothes for the children of clients that I have worked with for years,” he said. “My clients are like friends and family and it’s almost like I’m a hairdresser because people talk to me and you build up such a rapport.”
Lawrence was speaking at the launch of a collaboration between his brand Corblimey and accessory brand CluStar, founded by his friend Lorna Onabanjo, who he has helped to develop a band which can be attached to clothes to customise them.
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Fashion comes easily to the 62-year-old who has been working in the industry since he left school as a teenager.
After studying at the London College of Fashion, he initially worked at Polly Peck as an assistant pattern cutter, before joining a bridalwear company - and then decided to go it alone as a freelance designer in the Eighties.
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“I felt like I had completed the whole circle of fashion, from making skirts to creating wedding dresses which was great,” he said. “I thought then that the time had come to start out on my own.”
Since then his clothing has gone from strength to strength, with highlights inclduing HRH Princess Soamsawali of Thailand presenting him with a designer of the year award at a charity gala last year.
For more information about the CluStar band visit clustar.co.uk


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AMD admits it has "lost some share" in computing and graphics. But it says new technology, a simpler product roadmap and more focused strategy will make it competitive once again in high-performance desktops and servers
Showing results 1 to 20 of 817
From search to Gmail, the database technology at the heart of Google's largest internal systems is now available in public beta as a managed database service.
It's a wireless arms race in the crowded spectrum of London. Time to bring on the latest technology!
The company behind the open-source MariaDB MySQL branch has unveiled its spring release database offering, which it says is tuned for better performance.
The emergence and popularity of cloud technology has led many companies to develop industry-specific cloud applications. Here are the vertical clouds that are drawing the biggest VC investments.
When the NoSQL Couchbase database is updated this summer, firms will be getting a new scaling technology, designed to cut costs and network bandwidth.
Along with detailing how data is distributed across machines, the latest version of the MySQL Cluster database is billed as offering better performance and easier system upgrades.
Uber and Carnegie Mellon University have signed a partnership to develop vehicle safety and autonomy technology at the soon-to-be-launched Uber Advanced Technologies Center.
Amid a spate of recent database investment, Neo Technology, the company behind the leading Neo4j graph database, has unveiled its own multimillion injection.
As well as acquiring storage-engine company WiredTiger, open-source database firm MongoDB is bringing on board the architects behind the technology.
As an alternative to relational technology, NoSQL database deployments could well be entering a new phase next year, according to Bob Wiederhold, CEO of open-source NoSQL firm Couchbase.
Intel outlined an update to Stephen Hawking's communications platform and plans to provide a toolkit that can be used to advance technologies that could help those affected by motor neuron disorders.
Organizations are increasingly using parallel processing technology to address their high performance, technical computing or big data analysis requirements. Adaptive Computing has long believed that its Moab HPC Suite should be the parallel processing monitor of choice.
Created out of the technology from two Apache projects, Splice Machine's real-time relational database is now available with a number of extra features.
At the Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference in Las Vegas this week, AWS announced several important services. But most important is Amazon Aurora, a new high-performance database engine.
Oracle's stewardship has been good for the MySQL database argues Percona CEO Peter Zaitsev.
Making short-term decisions about technology investment is relatively easy; trying to work out how IT will develop over the next decade is much harder.
SilverDraft and Micron create a winning combination for filmmakers and video production professionals who need extreme performance technology.
Infor's suite of high-end cloud financial software products include a new user interface, in-memory database technology and more. CloudSuite signals a major shift in the application space. Will CIOs bite?
Visual computing technology provider Nvidia will be bringing its GRID virtual GPU to selected Chromebooks and VMware vSphere to ensure that customers have access to high-performance graphics on their virtualised desktops.
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The $12.5 billion Westfield Retail Trust has reported a modest 2% rise in earnings for the 2012 financial year noting the expansion of international brands in its malls.
The trust comprises 38 Westfields in Australia and nine New Zealand shopping centres with more than 12,000 shops.
The REIT reported $573 million in distributable earnings for the year ending December 31, 2012.
Retail sales reached $20.9 billion with speciality retail sales of $9,852 per square metre in Australia and a portfolio occupancy rate of 99.5%.
The Westfield Retail Trust completed $1.5 billion in developments including Westfield Sydney (completed in April 2012) and the redevelopment of Westfield Fountain Gate (the biggest in the porfolio at 174,000 square metres) with a development pipeline of $1.2 billion.
The portfolio delivered a yield of 6%.
Westfield Retail Trust managing director Domenic Panaccio called it a “strong financial result” noting that several international retailers had entered or expanded their operations” among the portfolio of malls.
The portfolio is home to half of all Zara stores in Australia and a third of all Apple stores.
Panaccico says he expects 2013 to continue to present challenges but says the trust’s high quality shopping centres “remain the first choice for many domestic and international retailers”.
This year the trust will commence redevelopment of Westfield Miranda and Westfield Mt Gravatt.
This article first appeared on Property Observer.


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Bon Jovi's Body Odor To Be Bottled, Charities To Benefit
Was Bon Jovi inspired by the recent movie, Perfume? Apparently, the singer has concocted his signature scent and is preparing to release it as an aftershave. Set for release in the UK this summer, the cosmetics brand Coty is assisting the singer with the process.
Everyone from J-Lo to David Beckham to Britney Spears has a scent or cosmetic line out there. It’s simply an option on a list that includes opening a restaurant, production company, or fashion line. One thing Bon Jovi is doing different compared to all the others is his plan to donate a portion of all profits to various charities throughout America. We’ve no word on who stands to benefit, but hopefully we’ll see one or two environmental groups on there.
Still no word on whether or not Britney plans to respond to Bon Jovi’s news by announcing she’s teaming up with Nad’s.


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The Dolce&Gabbana creations have always fascinated the world.
For some time, however, even a brand that has made fur its trademark like Dolce&Gabbana, has chosen the turning point of sustainable luxury.
In fact, more and more haute couture brands are following a cruelty free approach, creating beautiful garments by renouncing the use of fur.
The announcement is one of the historic ones: starting this year Dolce&Gabbana will forever renounce the use of furs in all collections.
Another luxury brand will follow this wave of animal rights: Moncler has in fact announced exactly the same thing.
This prestigious fashion house will also do without furs starting from 2023.
However, giving up fur, for Dolce&Gabbana, will not mean giving up the craftsmanship and talent of the master furriers, who will continue to collaborate with the maison.
Dolce&Gabbana fur free
The words of the fashion duo to explain the choice were clear.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have in fact said that they have been working for some time to reduce the environmental impact of the brand in various ways.
This green perspective, of course, certainly cannot include the use of animal furs.
The craftsmanship and talent of the master furriers will not be wasted: they will simply be made available to process eco-friendly materials.
Alternative materials therefore, vegan and cruelty free proposals that will replace animal fur.
The production of the new fur free collections is among the most anticipated on the upcoming catwalks: fashion victims from all over the world are waiting for nothing more than to wear the new, more sustainable creations of the Dolce&Gabbana duo.
The project is part of a broader sustainability perspective pursued by the fashion duo: in fact, animal fur not only does not reflect sustainability standards as regards its origin but also its production process is among the most polluting of all.


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Vitamins supplements continue to enjoy good growth in most markets, due to the popularity of new food concepts and volume growth in sports nutrition, but price levels have fallen for most vitamins because of the market entry of Chinese companies, according to a new report on the global vitamins market.
The impact of this has been considerable, with the demise of companies in the west, and the recent acquisition of the Roche vitamins unit by DSM. But new opportunities in Asia mean that supplement manufacturers can expect an end to falling vitamin prices over the next few years.
A new report estimates that the global market value of vitamins will reach $2.3 billion (€2.03bn) by 2007 - considerably lower than the $2.7 billion 1999, but rising at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of just under 1 per cent.
In past years, the market entry of Chinese competitors has triggered downward price spirals in vitamins and the build up of large over-capacities by traditional western producers - major developments that are quite unusual for fine chemicals, suggests the report by BCC Communications.
The highly competitive field has eroded marketing and product concepts such as customer focus and service, and the production of value-added products, it continues. Small margins have diminished profits, minimising R&D, which in the past was very intensive, and companies are now focused on streamlining production and lowering costs. All of this may result in a much greater emphasis on fermentation, which offers a higher potential for low cost production, suggests BCC. It may work to the disadvantage of many producers expert only in chemical synthesis, and to the advantage of company experts in the fermentative production of fine chemicals.
The strong price pressure has triggered a series of changes in the industry. Most prominent in the past three years were the take-over of the Takeda vitamin business by BASF, the break-up of Rhone-Poulenc and the formation of a new vitamin and feed ingredient company, Adisseo, and the divestment of the Roche vitamin division to DSM.
And the increasing importance of Chinese vitamin producers has led many companies to build joint ventures with Chinese vitamin manufacturers. BASF has joined up with North-East general for the production of vitamin C and Roche with Sunve for vitamins C, E, A and B6.
Roche/DSM has however managed to hold onto its leading 27 per cent share in the global vitamin business, followed by BASF with 21 per cent. Chinese producers as a whole hold another 24 per cent, but this share is split among many individual, small companies, reports BCC.
The report also highlights the lack of technological innovation in the production of vitamins, with the exception of vitamin B2. This vitamin in the past was mostly produced by chemical synthesis and now it is almost exclusively manufactured by fermentation. But take-up of fermentation has not been as strong as expected, despite its potential for major improvements in efficiency with increased productivity of strains through mutations. Cost cutting at chemical plants have clear limitations on the other hand.
Within applications, feed remains the most important outlet for vitamins, with a share of almost 50 per cent, followed by the supplement industry with 22 per cent and the food segment with 17 per cent. Cosmetic applications account for another 11 per cent of total sales, and the value of true pharmaceutical and technical applications is marginal. Vitamins E, C and A are still the leading vitamins, which account for more than 65 per cent of total sales in 2002.
For most vitamins, prices will not fall much further, while consumption, especially in feed and food might increase, the report outlines. China and other Asian countries are identified as the main growth areas for the next five years until 2007, lifting the total market value for vitamins in 2007 slightly higher than in 2002 at $2.3 billion.
But preoccupations with prices will be somewhat in the background as the industry concentrates on consolidation of their business rather than major expansions, with all eyes watching how DSM integrates its new Roche vitamins unit. Furthermore, since DSM is known mainly as a fermentation company, this technology could become more prominent in the production of vitamins than it is today, suggests the report.
The Global Market for Vitamins in Food, Feed, Pharma and Cosmetics will be published in August, priced at $4250.


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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Hankook Tire America Corp. will offer up to $70 in rebates on four qualifying tires during its "Great Winter Promotion," which runs through Dec. 20.
The rebate comes in the form of a prepaid MasterCard and is redeemable at hankookrebates.com.
The $70 rebate applies to Kinergy 4S2 (H750) tires, which carry the industry's Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake symbol, designating winter traction.
Two patterns are eligible for $40 rebates: the on-and-off road Winter i*pike (RW11) and the ultra-high performance Winter i*cept evo2 SUV (W320).
"Ahead of the winter season, it's important that our vehicles are prepared to take on snow and icy conditions, and that starts with having the right tires," Curtis Brison, vice president of passenger and light truck sales, said.
"That's why we are pleased to offer consumers deals on three of our premium winter and all-weather tires through our 2020 Great Winter Promotion."


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Acer 32-inch 4K UHD monitor ProDesigner BM320 with professional-grade color is now available in U.S. Outfitted with the Acer ColorPlus technology suite, the Acer ProDesigner BM320 ensures consistent color output in addition..
Tag Archives: color
LG and Dolby Laboratories today announced the LG UP970 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, LG’s first 4K Blu-ray player which will support Dolby Vision high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging. Leveraging the HDR technology that powers..
Toyota announced the launch of its new Pixis Joy passenger minivehicle in Japan today. The new Pixis Joy passenger minivehicle will be available at a total of 211 dealers in Japan. The..
LG to Showcase World’s Largest1 21:9 UltraWide Monitor and First 144Hz IPS 21:9 UltraWide Gaming Monitor at IFA 2016
LG will unveil world’s Largest1 21:9 UltraWide Monitor and First 144Hz IPS 21:9 UltraWide Gaming Monitor at IFA 2016.The 38-inch UltraWide curved monitor (model 38UC99) and 144Hz IPS 21:9 Curved UltraWide gaming..
A study commissioned by Samsung to launch its innovative new washing machine AddWash, found Brits lose an average of 1.3 socks each month (and more than 15 in a year), leaving them..
Epson to launch 3LCD Business Projectors including World’s First-ever 25,000-lumen 3LCD Projector this Year
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The popular Ford Escape SUV is newly engineered to make customers feel unstoppable – with even more driver-assist technologies to help enable safer and easier driving, new mobile connectivity that allows owners..
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Canon announced today that it is developing a compact high-sensitivity network camera that will make possible the clear viewing in color of distant subjects even under conditions that would prove challenging to..


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Cement like substance created out of recyclable plastic bottles
A cement-like substance assisting with stormwater management while being able to keep millions of plastic bottles out of landfills has been developed by a scientist. An Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Temple University, Naji Khoury, used a mixture of recyclable plastic bottles and soil to create 'Plastisoil', a trademarked product, he describes as an impervious cementing agent. When mixed with course aggregate and heated, it produces what Khoury calls 'porous Plastisoil', which functions like pervious concrete and porous asphalt. Khoury said that Plastisoil could help alleviate environmental problems created by stormwater run-off because stormwater can filter through it into the ground below. "We are currently testing the porous Plastisoil to see if it could also remove or reduce pollutants like motor oil from the water as it filters through," he said. The product is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles, which would help reduce the 200 billion plastic bottles that are sent to landfills each year.


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Angela Hsu, CEO of North and Central China at M&C Saatchi, explained since its launch, Pocari Sweat has been perceived as an energy drink. The new appointment will see a change in the marketing strategy for Pocari, promoting the brand as a daily drink for consumers, any time of the day.
The first campaign is set to launch this summer. Pocari is aiming to create more brand loyalty in China.
Otsuka, the mother company of Pocari Sweat launched a creative pitch in China last year in November.


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The diamond industry plays an important role in the socio-economic development of several African countries, given that 65% of the world's diamonds, with an annual value of 8,5 billion American dollars are extracted from the continent. Globally, it is estimated that 10 million people benefit either directly or indirectly from the diamond industry. ln Southern Africa, countries such as Botswana, Namibia and South Africa are realising substantial socio-economic gains from the diamond industry. For instance, diamond revenues in Botswana enable all children up to the age of 13 to receive free education and in Namibia the diamond sector contributes 40% of the country's annual export earnings2 World leaders, including the late Nelson Mandela have outlined the socioeconomic importance of diamonds to the lives of African people.
However, in Zimbabwe the situation is the opposite of what is happening in its neighbouring countries. After the discovery of huge diamond deposits in Marange in the mid-2000, the expectation was thatdiamond revenues will contribute significantly to national development but the industry has been a disappointment. This sentiment is expressed in the 2016 National Budget Statement by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development stateswherein he statedthat, 'this is a resource that seems to have not benefitted the generality of our people .... "
In this context, the Committee on Mines and Energy sought to follow the objectives below;
• To unpack the underlying causes of the poor performance by the diamond industry;
• To analyse the contributionof diamonds to Treasury; and
• To analyse the socio-economic impacts of consolidation of diamond mines.


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LG’s Newest In-Vehicle Infotainment System to Debut in Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric
Based on Google Android Automotive and Android 10,
LG’s New IVI System Optimized for Convenience, Connectivity
SEOUL, Nov. 1, 2021 — LG Electronics’ (LG) next-generation In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) system will make its debut in the new Renault Mégane E-TECH Electric in 2022. The stunning new vehicle equipped with LG’s advanced IVI system was unveiled to strong praise at IAA MOBILITY 2021, the world’s largest mobility conference held recently in Munich, Germany.
The software that powers the IVI system was developed by LG in partnership with Renault and is based on Google Android Automotive. It is the first software developed by LG utilizing Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), a set of principles and processes to help large organizations adopt agile methodologies to develop and deliver high-quality products and services faster. This software operates independently from the vehicle’s hardware to provide a variety of convenience-enhancing features such as the ability to update the operating system over-the-air and remotely check vehicle charging status.
What’s more, LG’s Android-based IVI system is the first system based on Android 10 to receive certification from Google Automotive Services (GAS). The platform offers intelligent infotainment services and easy access to various Google apps including Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play via the Center Information Display (CID). With its sleek, intuitive Human Machine Interface (HMI) and convenient user experience, the system leverages LG’s growing capabilities as a vehicle solutions provider to meet the diverse needs of today’s motorists and make car travel more enjoyable.
As an innovative partner for future mobility, LG’s Vehicle component Solutions (VS) Company has earned a reputation as a global top-tier supplier of IVI systems and Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) that reflect the very latest developments and trends in mobility. The business unit is continuously expanding its capabilities and market reach through various efforts, including the acquisition of automotive lighting and headlight systems provider, ZKW Group, and the recent joint venture with Magna International to create the LG Magna e-Powertrain, which launched in July.
“Digital cockpits have quickly transformed how drivers and passengers interact with their vehicles, allowing for more personalization and enhanced comfort,” said Thierry Cammal, Alliance Global Vice President Renault Software Factory. “We believe that our continued collaborative work with LG has been critical to deliver an outstanding Android cockpit for our Mégane E-TECH Electric revealed at IAA MOBILITY.”
“Our new IVI system not only meets but exceeds the growing demand for stable, advanced and user-friendly automotive software platforms,” said Dr. Kim Jin-yong, president of the LG Vehicle component Solutions Company. “Through continuous innovation and collaboration with expert partners such as Renault, LG is committed to delivering differentiated in-vehicle experiences and further strengthening our position as a solutions provider for the global auto industry.”
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Saks Inc. replaces retiring execs
November 11, 2002,
Birmingham, AL — In anticipation of several upcoming executive retirements, Saks Inc. today announced several appointments in its Saks Support Group.
Dave Baker, executive vp, operations and logistics, and Jack Miller, senior vp, store planning, construction, maintenance and energy, will retire, effective Jan. 31, 2003.
Don Docken has joined the company as senior vp, store planning, construction, facilities and energy and will assume Miller's responsibilities.
All three will be based in Jackson, MS, and will report to Jim Coggin, president and chief administrative officer of Saks Inc.
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Business remains anything but cold for Cold House Vodka.
As founder, distiller and president of Valley Spirits, Lee Palleschi has signed with a distribution company to keep pace with demand for his handcrafted ultrapremium vodkas.
The Modesto company has grown from its first 101-bottle batch in 2009 to cranking out at least 1,000-bottle batches today.
"We've been growing, steadily growing," Palleschi said. "We've just really reached the point where we cannot self-distribute anymore. It's a wonderful problem to have."
The company, which began with just Palleschi doing all the distilling, bottling and labeling, has four more full-time employees.
Distribution expanded to regional supermarkets such as Save Mart and Lucky, and Costco stores in Modesto and Tracy.
A month ago, the company signed on with Ceres-based CenCal Beverage Company.
Cold House Vodka is still made in the former cold-storage building in the old Tri-Valley Growers complex in Modesto, but Palleschi has upgraded his equipment and operation considerably. He began with a 40-gallon homemade still, bought a 150-gallon still last year and in May purchased a custom 500-gallon still.
"I am working to make the best quality products I can make," Palleschi said. "But I wasn't prepared for the amount of growth we'd have."
For more, visit www.drinkvalleyspirits.com.
Elsewhere around the Business Beat:
Beardsley's Book & Bible has completed its move to a new spot within the McHenry Village.
Owner Kelly Spencer said a move to a space a third of the size of its old 10,000 square-foot location has been positive for employees, who all transferred over, and customers alike.
The store has cut its book inventory by 50 percent, but still carries art, stationary, music and gifts.
The one thing that didn't survive the move was the coffee bar.
The new Beardsley's Book & Bible is in Suite 45 in the McHenry Village, 1700 McHenry Ave. Call (209) 523-0727.
And finally, the Gamers Network cyber cafe has a new home.
Formerly in the Save Mart center on H Street, the new location at the corner of Scenic Drive and Coffee Road is twice the size. The cafe offers gaming and computer repair, and is open daily from 1 p.m. to 8 a.m. Call (209) 566-2464.
Have an item for Business Beat? Contact Marijke Rowland at The Modesto Bee, P.O. Box 5256, Modesto 95352; (209) 578-2284 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Prior to the COVID-19 UK lockdown Barker maintenance engineer Mick Henson (www.mickhensonsculptures.co.uk) completed his latest sculpture which is consists of tools commonly seen on the factory floor.
Previously a full time sculptor, Mick returned to the shoe industry in January 2017 but has always worked in Northamptonshire’s traditional trades, the shoe and tannery industries as an engineer. Many of his sculptures have been made from and inspired by the machinery he’s worked on over the years.
The recently finished sculpture is in the shape of a shoe made from clicking press knifes supplied by Barker shoes, NPS and Loake’s. The concept allowed the inclusion of designs made by Kettering Park Junior Academy’s year 3 to fit within the press knifes to create a shoe-shaped collage.
The sculpture was days away from adding schoolchildren’s designs for an exhibition at the Kettering museum until the UK lockdown meant the exhibition was cancelled and is yet to be re-scheduled.
We're looking forward to seeing the sculpture on exhibition in the near future.


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An Apple software update aimed at making it easier to contact the emergency services is suspected of triggering a spike in accidental calls. One team of dispatchers in California has seen around 1,600 false calls since October 2017, around 20 per day, originating from an Apple repair center.
“We’re aware of 911 calls originating from our Elk Grove repair and refurbishment facility,” an Apple spokesperson told CBS Sacramento. “We take this seriously and we are working closely with local law enforcement to investigate the cause and ensure this doesn’t continue.”
Apple launched iOS 11 on September 19, 2017, which introduced a simpler way to call the services. Users on most iPhones can now press the sleep button five times to start a call, or by pressing the side button and two volume buttons all at the same time on the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X. The company has also supported a similar feature on the Apple Watch since watchOS 3 launched in September 2016, activated by holding the side button for five seconds.
Although it’s uncertain that the update is the cause of these issues, the Sheriff’s communications center in Sacramento County has received 47 calls this year from people that sound like they’re fixing Apple products.
“To them, it sounds like people talking about Apple, or devices or generally about maintenance and repairs,” Sgt. Shaun Hampton, with the Sheriff’s department, told the publication.
iOS 11 does not allow users to switch off the feature, but it can alter the method to require the user to swipe across the screen to confirm the call. This can be done in the “Settings” app on the iPhone, but as it stands users may not even be aware the phone is set up to make emergency calls automatically.
With the company planning out features for iOS 12 for an expected announcement this summer, it could be the catalyst to rethink the feature. Apple plans improvements to Animojis, FaceTime updates and a unified app system, but in major updates the company also seeks to tweak the software to work smarter for customers.


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Paytm continued to see strong growth in lending business, with the value of loans growing nearly five-fold on-year in October, and the number of loans more than doubling. Paytm’s loan disbursements in October rose 387% on-year to Rs 3,056 crore; the number of loans disbursed jumped 161% on-year to 3.4 million in October. The homegrown payments and financial services firm clocked merchant payments value at Rs 1.18 lakh crore in October 2022. The GMV has shown a 42% year-on-year increase from Rs 83,000 crore.
“In parallel, we are now scaling up lending distribution which can bring financial inclusion to hundreds of millions of people in our country,” said Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma. “Due to the huge demand for lending in our country, our low penetration and the compounding nature of our lending journey, we are extremely optimistic about the prospects of our lending business,” he added.
In addition, Paytm continued its offline payments push, taking its total deployment to 5 million devices to enable payments without internet. Over 5 million merchants subscribe to Paytm for usage of its payment devices, such as its point of sale and sound boxes, which drive higher volumes of payment, as well as subscription revenues for the company.
Paytm said, “We continue to seek growth and upsell opportunities as low penetration supports future growth potential”. Paytm Super App showed increased consumer engagement this month, with 84 million monthly transacting users (MTU), growing by 33% year-on-year. Over the past quarters, Paytm has pivoted to focusing on avenues that generate profit, it said. In the update, Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “We are now excited about the next year of our journey, as we get close to EBITDA profitability and free cash flow generation.”
Paytm stock debuted on the bourses almost a year ago, on November 18, 2021, with the issue price at Rs 2,150. However, the stock hit an all time high of Rs 1,961 before plunging, touching an all time low of Rs 510 a few months later. The company’s share value is currently down almost 60%.


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New York, NY (December 8, 2005)–Copy protection problems continue to plague Sony BMG. On December 6, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment issued a joint statement that MediaMax security measures included on certain titles leave the Windows-based PCs that they are played on vulnerable.
The EFF has since advised that the software patch designed to fix those problems also leaves users’ computers exposed and have now advised consumers not to apply the patch. Security researchers Ed Felten and Alex Halderman discovered the security problem in the patch and have called on Sony BMG to recall all CDs using MediaMax software. According to reports, MediaMax protection is included on 50 titles that have shipped a total of 5.7 million copies in North America, including CDs by Alicia Keys, Britney Spears and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment announced on December 6 that SunnComm had made available a software update to address a security vulnerability with its MediaMax Version 5 content protection software on certain Sony BMG CDs. The vulnerability was discovered by the security firm iSEC Partners after EFF requested an examination of the SunnComm software.
Halderman, in a statement on the Freedom to Tinker blog, stated, “Simply inserting a MediaMax-bearing CD into your PC paves the way for an attacker to come along and set a booby-trap. The trap will be sprung the next time you insert such a disc.” Further, he writes, the patch is also not secure: “It turns out that there is a way an adversary can booby-trap the MediaMax files so that hostile software is run automatically when you install and run the MediaMax patch.” The previously released MediaMax uninstaller displays a similar loophole, he adds.
Electronic Frontier Foundation


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We reviewed the third party vendor breaches that made some of the biggest impacts on companies and consumers. Data breaches linked to a third party vendor have not let up and the issue is getting worse. Soha Systems Survey on Third Party Risk Management notes that 63% of all data breaches can be attributed to a third party vendor.
It’s has been an especially difficult year regarding data breaches as we’ve seen with the return of the MySpace and LinkedIn data breaches. Unfortunately, this teaches us that third party vendor data breaches should not be forgotten and their security should not be ignored. Even if years have passed between a vendor being breached, the consequences may still be yet to come to fruition.
Below, we’ve rounded up a list of data breaches attributable to a third party vendor in 2016 so far.
Hackers breach Equifax’s portal, stealing W-2 data
Hackers were able to use employee’s default PIN codes to log into W-2Express, an Equifax service. The default PIN codes used a common system – the employee’s Social Security number, and date of birth to access W-2 data. Hackers stole tax and salary data from a large number of W-2Express users.
Affected companies and institutions include Kroger, Stanford University, and Northwestern University. However, because the default PIN code system is in place for most of Equifax’s clients, many other companies could succumb to the same problem.
Hackers pose as employees, breach ADP portal to access payroll data
In a similar case, hackers registered accounts in the names of employees at over a dozen customer firms, including U.S Bancorp in order to steal W-2 data from an ADP portal. All parties were at fault due to poor security hygiene. As KrebsOnSecurity mentions, ADPs registration issue relies on static data, such as Social Security Numbers or addresses that is easily obtained on the dark web, especially as more large-scale third party vendor breaches occur. However, many of the affected firms had disclosed company-specific links to the ADP portal on easily viewable webpages, allowing savvy hackers to piece together employee information and the company ADP links to steal sensitive data.
Healthcare provider Bizmatic is breached, putting over 150K patient records at risk
Bizmatic, an ambulatory software and electronic health records vendor serving over 15,000 healthcare providers was hacked by intruders that used stolen credentials to install malware in the Bizmatic environment. While the attack took place in January 2015, Bizmatic was not aware until late 2015 and an affected healthcare provider, Vincent Vein Center, alerted the US Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) as late as June 2016. Specific information that may have been accessed and compromised includes name, address, telephone, SSN, DOB, Insurance Information.
A number of healthcare providers have all experienced ensuing fallouts as a result of the breach, specifically citing Bizmatic’s PrognoCIS tool, an electronic health record and practice management tool, as the cause of the data leak.
Acer’s third party vendor is hacked, exposing e-commerce customer information
Acer suffered a data breach on its e-commerce site through an undisclosed third party for any customers who visited the site from May 12, 2015 through April 28th, 2016. Data compromised includes name, address, and complete credit card data, such as the expiration date and security code. While sensitive data like Social Security numbers weren’t leaked, the long length of time the website was affected places a wider audience at risk
Wendy’s POS systems are compromised, affected restaurants are underestimated
Wendy’s was the victim of malware compromising their third-party point of sale (POS) systems, affecting a number of Wendy’s restaurants. Two different strains of malware were found on a number of different systems, after further investigation was underway, which compromised more than the originally estimated 300 restaurants. Wendy’s statement has pointed to a remote access tool used by malicious actors to target and obtain POS credentials, providing hackers a way in. However, a recent update from KrebsonSecurity has placed the number of affected locations to 1,025. As a result, Wendy’s is now a victim of a class action lawsuit on behalf of a credit union that alleges Wendy’s could have prevented or reduced the damage if they had acted faster.
doTERRA’s data host and software service provider is hacked, accessing customer data
A third party provider offering data hosting and software services was breached, leading doTERRA, an essential oils provider, to release a letter informing customer and wellness advocates that a slew of information including Social Security Numbers, credit card information, date of birth, names, addresses, telephone numbers, usernames, and passwords may have been compromised.
Another POS system is hacked, CiCi’s Pizza suffers
CiCi’s Pizza was hacked by way of its POS systems provided by Datapoint. Hackers may have obtained card data information by initially posing as technical support specialists for the POS systems.
KrebsonSecurity tried to uncover more data and it seemed like the entire Datapoint site was compromised (as Google prevented access to it) which can potentially lead to a larger and more widespread hack.
Multicolor’s employee data, past and present, are at risk after their law firm is breached
An East Coast law firm representing MultiColor, a global label provider, informed the company that, among other things, a hard drive containing MultiColor’s data was stolen, along with the credentials needed to access the drive. The potentially compromised information included names, Social Security numbers, and addresses, of current, former, and prospective employees.
Former vendor accidentally makes sensitive patient information publicly viewable
Up to 4,000 patients of the Children’s National Health System (CNHS) may have had their information, including names, DOBs, medications, and doctor summaries compromised after a former medical transcription vendor inadvertently uploaded files on an FTP site that was viewable on the web. As of the time of writing, due to swift action, the CNHS has stated that they are not aware of any unauthorized access or misuse of the data.
LuckyPet is breached via third party shopping cart software
LuckyPet customers may have been compromised through third party shopping cart software that was infected with malware to obtain customer information such as names, credit card data, and addresses from the LuckyPet pet store website. The infection seemed to have taken place in October of 2015 but officials weren’t made aware until March 2016. While no reports of misuse of information have been made, as we’ve seen with previous data breaches, it may some time before the data is used for malicious purposes.
The Archdiocese of Denver’s payroll database is breached
An unauthorized person accessed the third party vendor that maintains payroll for The Archdiocese of Denver, compromising their names, Social Security numbers, and addresses. While the incident occurred in October 2015, victims have recently reported their information having been used for fraudulent purposes. The data breach may potentially affect 18,000 people.
Malware is found to scrape payment card information from Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
In a story we’re seeing occur a number of times, malware has been found on POS systems on the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort. Names, card numbers, expiration dates, verification codes were compromised and reports of fraudulent activity associated with the data have been sent to the resort, prompting an investigation. Customers who used their cards in the resort from October 27, 2015 and March 21, 2016 are at risk.
A few patterns we can clearly see in this roundup are that major third party vendor portals are being accessed to download W-2 data affecting a large number of partner companies, the healthcare industry is still being heavily targeted, and point of sale (POS) systems across industries are compromising large amounts of credit card data.
Unfortunately, POS systems are some of the most vulnerable due to the relative ease of hardware compromise and the general insecurity of credit card magnetic stripes. And as we’ve noted before, the healthcare industry is becoming increasingly targeted by hackers due to the large amount of sensitive information available and the general lack of security providers and third party vendors are engaged in.
Data breaches through third parties are especially dangerous due to the amount of companies one breach can affect. Third party vendor security is more important than ever before and as a result, it’s critical that a vendor’s security posture is validated. To do so, engage in regular or ongoing vendor security monitoring to confirm that any data maintained with vendors remains secure.


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Hungarian hotels group Danubius Hotels posted HUF 2.29 billion (€7.72 million) in pre-tax losses in the fourth quarter of 2008, to a large part due to financial losses, the company said in its unaudited consolidated IRFS report on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange.
Fourth-quarter pre-tax losses rose 58% from a year earlier as financial losses rose more than five-fold to HUF 2.15 billion. Foreign exchange losses, most of them unrealized, totaled HUF 1.6 billion in the quarter. Operating losses dropped 82% yr/yr to HUF 169 million in the fourth quarter.
For the full year of 208, Danubius had pre-tax losses of HUF 197 million, compared to HUF 1.77 billion pre-tax profits in 2007, as operating profit fell 53% to HUF 1.37 billion and financial losses rose 39% to HUF 1.49 billion last year.
The company noted that HUF 1.81 billion in interest payments represented its largest financial loss last year.
The company posted EBITDA of HUF 6 billion in 2008, down 21% from 2007. Q4 EBITDA rose, however, sharply, to HUF 1.03 billion from 307m a year earlier.
Revenue rose 1% yr/yr in Q4 to HUF 1% to HUF 11.27 billion, and was full-year revenue was unchanged at HUF 47.17 billion.
Danubius Group revenue from hotels declined 2% to HUF 21.81 billion in 2008. Catering revenues were unchanged at HUF 15 billion and revenue from spa services rose 5% to HUF 6.2 billion.
The group's hotels in Hungary sustained pre-tax losses of HUF 1.74 billion in 2008, double that recorded the previous year.
The group's hotels in the Czech Republic posted pre-tax profit of HUF 857 million last year, up 22% yr/yr. Danubius' hotels in Slovakia posted pre-tax profit of HUF 264 million in 2008, compared to losses of HUF 290 million in 2007, and its hotels Romania recorded pre-tax profit of HUF 417 million last year, up 13% yr/yr.
Danubius spent HUF 5.48 billion on developments last year, 50% more than in 2007.
Net assets rose 3% in twelve months to HUF 52.74 billion at the end of 2008. (MTI – Econews)


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Businesses ready to pitch in.
As hard as it is for businesses to close for any length of time, they say they will to help with the flood fight.
Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said Monday that the city would shut down business activity if necessary to help protect the city against rising floodwaters.
"This is an emergency," Walaker said. "We will do what we have to do to protect the public."
Businesses seem willing to oblige. They are also encouraging employees to volunteer in the flood fight - many of them paying for hours employees regularly would have worked. West Acres has every intention of closing if needed, said Rusty Papachek, general manager.
"If the mayor says we need to close, we're going to follow suit," he said.
"Whatever Denny wants us to do, we will do," said Spider Johnk, who owns Fargo marketing company Spider and Co.
Some businesses, like Spider and Co. and Microsoft, can have employees work from home.
"Last year, we had people work from home and we still got a lot of work done," said Don Morton, Microsoft Fargo site leader. Others can redirect business for a while.
"We have plans in place to temporarily redirect our work to our other locations until we can resume operations in Fargo," said Danny Miles, human resources director for Ygomi, Oak Brook, Ill.-based parent company to SEI, a global provider of call center services in Fargo.
Businesses like Nodak are preparing for just the opposite. The Fargo appliance, electronics, clothing, and hardware store will stay open 24 hours if needed, said Brian Blixt, sales associate.
"We are here for the public and will go above and beyond to help our customers and the city of Fargo," he said.
Whether they have to close or not, some small businesses are worried about possible financial losses caused by the flood.
"During the flood, small businesses are hurt by the fact that people change their buying habits," said Craig Whitney, Chamber of Commerce of Fargo Moorhead president and CEO.
It took some businesses a long time to try to recoup sales lost during last year's flood, Whitney said.
It's difficult to close for any length of time following January and February, typically the slowest retail months, said Mark Weiler, founder of Fargo Downtowner, a group of businesses working together to promote downtown Fargo.
"We understand the necessity, but it's also a very difficult time for us to shut our doors," he said. "We are independent stores, and it's really essential that we have regular business


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UK supermarkets enjoy Jubilee boon
Tesco, Sainsbury's and other UK supermarkets have reported a year-on-year sales hike of 12.5% in the week leading up to the Jubilee celebrations buoyed by customers rushing out to buy beer and snacks, according to figures from Nielsen.
Tesco: figures from Nielsen report strong sales
Tesco said it had reported a record-breaking week in the run-up to the Jubilee, when Tesco reported more than £1bn in sales.
Sainsbury’s also highlighted "strong sales" in the run up to the Jubilee celebrations.
Neilsen's data reveals that in the week ending June 2, sales at UK grocery retailers were up 12.5% on the year, continuing momentum from the week previous when sales were up 5.7%.
The two weeks contrast with subdued trading in early May, as customers shied away from supermarkets because of the cold and wet weather.
During May, the Nielsen data reveals that crisps and snacks were up 10%), confectionery up 9%, soft drinks up 7% and beers, wine spirits up 7%.
Mike Watkins, Nielsen senior manager for retailer services, said: "Overall, May was a month of better momentum across food retailing, with the major supermarkets issuing a deluge of cash savings and discounts, actively encouraging shoppers to visit and spend."
|% share, 12 wks to 28/05/11||% share, 12 wks to 26/05/12||% value change vs same 12 Wks 1-yr ago|
|Marks & Spencer||3.5%||3.5%||2.0%|
This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk
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Suzuki Philippines once again demonstrated its caliber by taking home a coveted distinction for one of its iconic models at the recently concluded Auto Focus Media’s Choice Awards (AFMCA) 2015 held last October 16th at Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City.
The award-winning and best-selling Suzuki Swift 1.2 won this year’s “Best Value for Money” award in the Subcompact category. Its premium features, thoughtfully designed interior and exterior, amazing fuel efficiency, powerful engine performance and its economical retail price helped it clinch the title and be handpicked by the panel of motoring media professionals and practitioners among the subcompact cars available in the local market.
Suzuki Philippines recently rolled out the new Swift 1.2 with distinctly bolder features than its predecessor. Externally, the 1.2-liter Swift gets a new front grille and fog lamp bezel complete with chrome accent. The front bumper design shows a new scheme with sharper edges for a fiercer bearing. Moreover, the alloy wheels have been enhanced with wider spokes.
Inside, part of its rear seatback folds down for added cargo space when needed. Additionally, the improved Swift 1.2 flashes a new touchscreen multimedia and navigation-ready audio unit that will give ease to any Swift 1.2 owner.
Now on its 11th year, the AFMCA gets the pulse from motorists and the motoring media professionals as to which vehicles in the local market stand out, and awards the best among them in terms of performance, design and overall value.
Pre-Christmas Test Drive Festival
After making an impression on the motoring media, Suzuki Philippines also wowed the motorists when it participated in the Pre-Christmas Test Drive Festival, also organized by Auto Focus, held last November 12 to 15 at the SM Mall of Asia. Customers got first-hand experience on the roster of Suzuki vehicles available for test drive and witnessed the unveiling of the new Suzuki Swift Si—a limited edition, sporty version of the Swift. Noticeable cosmetic upgrades make the model distinct, yet it maintains the signature Swift fuel-efficient 1.2 liter 4 cylinder VVT engine.
SPH General Manager for Automobile Shuzo Hoshikura shared, “It has been another banner year for Suzuki Philippines and for the entire motoring industry as well. Suzuki Philippines actually posted industry-leading stats, having logged a 58 percent gain from the previous year. We have great appreciation for the market’s growing trust in the brand and we would again like to dedicate to our valued customers the award bestowed by AFMCA. This certainly inspires us, Suzuki Philippines, to further develop and manufacture top quality products and improve after-sales service for the local motoring market. Trust that we will also continue to come up with world-class vehicles to fit everyone’s needs.”


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TORONTO — Cara Operations Ltd., having scooped up some of the biggest restaurant chains in the country during the past three years, is on the lookout for more.
“Our balance sheet is much stronger and we are well positioned to pursue strategic acquisitions,” company chief executive Bill Gregson said Friday on a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter results.
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Cara, operator of 1,237 restaurants across the country under banners such as Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, Milestones and New York Fries, reported a 39 per cent jump in overall system sales to $641 million in the quarter thanks to its acquisition of the St. Hubert chicken chain last September. That was up from $461 million in the same period a year ago.
However, same-restaurant sales, a figure indicative of overall industry performance that strips out the extra sales from new restaurants, fell 2.8 per cent for the period ended Dec. 25, and were down 1.6 per cent for the year.


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SWA: US tariffs could cost industry £100m in a year
The Scotch Whisky Association has revealed that US tariffs have already caused a “marked” decrease in exports, and if kept in place, will lead to a £100 million loss this year.
The chief executives of the SWA and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) have jointly called on both the UK and US governments to find a solution to the on-going trade disputes.
Scotch whisky exported to the US is currently subject to a 25% import tariff, after the US government imposed the levy in retaliation to subsides given to European aviation company over US rival Boeing.
As things stand, drinks products subject to 25% tariffs include still wine (not over 14% ABV) made in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, transported in containers of 2 litres or less; liqueurs made in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK; and Scotch whisky. These tariffs were implemented in October 2019.
In December, the US government threatened to raise these tariffs by up to 100%, as well as widening the tariff remit to wine (bulk, still, sparkling and fortified) made in all EU countries, whiskies other than Scotch or Northern Irish whiskey; and non-alcoholic beer.
Meanwhile, US whiskey exported to the EU has been subject to a 25% tariff since June 2018.
The SWA and DISCUS are calling for a solution to the trade disputes and the remove of all tariffs on distilled spirits. They argue that whiskies have been caught up in a trade war “that have nothing to do with them but which are now harming investment, productivity, jobs and growth”.
Karen Betts, SWA chief executive, said: “Our message is clear. The UK and US governments must return quickly to tariff-free trade.
“The current disputes about steel and aluminium and aircraft manufacture have nothing to do with us, but the tariffs stemming from them are causing needless damage to our industry on both sides of the Atlantic, and to the livelihoods we support. Constructive negotiations must solve trade disputes, tariffs on whiskies will not.
“Exports each way are markedly down, and if these falls are maintained over the year around £100 million is likely to be lost in Scotch Whisky exports.
“Many smaller Scotch Whisky companies are now asking themselves how they can continue exporting to the US, whether they can build up alternative markets, and if not how their businesses will cope.
“Until a resolution is found, it is critically important that the UK and Scottish governments act to mitigate the impact of tariffs on Scotch Whisky producers, particularly SMEs which are being disproportionately hit. A cut to excise duty in the March Budget would help businesses strengthen their presence in the UK while exports to the US are under such pressure.”
Chris Swonger, president and CEO of DISCUS, added: “Our industries have enjoyed great growth, thanks to the zero-for-zero tariff agreement. Scotch Whisky exports to the US have grown 270%, and American whiskey exports to the UK have grown 410% since zero-tariff trade was introduced 25 years ago.
“That ended in June 2018 when the EU imposed a 25% tariff on American whiskey in response to US actions on steel and aluminium, which was further compounded by the US introducing a tariff on single malt Scotch whisky and liqueurs in connection to an unrelated trade dispute in October 2019.
“We need to get back to zero-tariff trade which benefitted distillers on both sides of the Atlantic so our industries can go back to doing what we do best – distilling amazing whiskeys and sharing them with the world.”


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Tesla’s autonomous coast-to-coast drive, originally promised in 2016, is on hold while the company’s Autopilot team stays “heads down” on improving the driver assist system’s safety features, Elon Musk said in a call with investors Wednesday. Musk also teased a new software update to Autopilot — version 9.0 — coming in September that he said would be a stark improvement over the current version. Tesla built a new version of its semi-autonomous system, known as Autopilot, in 2016 after a public breakup with the original supplier of the technology. Shortly after unveiling the replacement hardware and software, Musk claimed that the company’s new version — Autopilot 2.0 — would be good enough that a car equipped with it would complete a trip from Los Angeles to New York without a single moment of human interference. Musk also said Tesla would be able to develop the tech fast enough to pull off this demonstration by the end of 2017. Earlier this year, he said the drive would be “upcoming.” But now it seems like we’ll have to wait even longer before Musk gives to green light. That is sure to disappoint Tesla’s fans, as well as investors and analysts, who watch closely for any updates on the company’s self-driving vehicle program. But it also may come as a relief for some who want Musk to stay focused on stabilizing the Model 3’s production and building a profitable, cash-positive company. “We could do a coast-to-coast drive, especially if we pick a specific… [Read full story]
The Verge is an ambitious multimedia effort founded in 2011 to examine how technology will change life in the future for a massive mainstream audience.
Our original editorial insight was that technology had migrated from the far fringes of the culture to the absolute center as mobile technology created a new generation of digital consumers. Now, we live in a dazzling world of screens that has ushered in revolutions in media, transportation, and science. The future is arriving faster than ever.


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[ad name=”G-Rectangle-left”]While the prevalence of mobile malware is still comparatively low, 2013 showed that the environment for an explosive growth of scams and malware attacks is here. Our Norton Report, a global survey of end-users, showed that 38 percent of mobile users had already experienced mobile cybercrime. Lost or stolen devices remain the biggest risk, but mobile users are behaving in ways that leave themselves open to other problems. Mobile users are storing sensitive files online (52 percent), store work and personal information in the same online storage accounts (24 percent) and sharing logins and passwords with families (21 percent) and friends (18 percent), putting their data and their employers’ data at risk. Yet only 50 percent of these users take even basic security precautions. The number of brand new malware families created slowed as malware authors worked to perfect existing malware. In 2012 each mobile malware family had an average of 38 variants. In 2013 each family had 58. However several events in 2013 showed that mobile users are highly susceptible to scams via mobile apps. It might be said that mobile malware has not yet exploded because the bad guys have not needed it to get what they want.
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The fear of technology not working is the biggest fear for British small businesses, with electronic crime not causing much concern.
Research covering almost 600 firms employing fewer than 50 people showed that attitudes to operational business anxieties were dominated by technology.
The research, commissioned by security software firm Trend Micro, saw 42% of respondents cite technology not working as their biggest fear.
The same figure said difficult clients and suppliers increased their anxiety, along with heavy workloads (30%), tight deadlines (26%) and long hours (19%).
When questioned about business-related crime, only 10% expressed concern about the loss of confidential data.
And when asked about electronic crime, 83% said they had not been a victim of electronic crime in the last 12 months.


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Google fined $5bn by EC for Android anti-competitive behaviour
The sight of Google being slapped with a multi-billion-dollar fine by European regulators will undoubtedly cheer up some music rightsholders, but what implications might it have for the industry? The European Commission...
July 19, 2018
Report: mobile app and game spending up 27.8% year-on-year
Research firm SensorTower has published its latest figures on the mobile apps and games industry, and they suggest strong growth even though we’re now a decade in to the modern apps era. “App Store and Google Play users...
July 17, 2018
Spotify and Pandora loom large in all-time app-spending chart
Spotify is the second top mobile app by all-time, global consumer spend, according to a new report from analytics firm App Annie. Pandora is the third, meanwhile, with the two music-streaming services only beaten by Netflix...
July 6, 2018
HTC shows off Exodus, a blockchain-powered smartphone
Yes, blockchain technology is also making headlines in the smartphone-manufacturing world. HTC has announced plans to develop a blockchain-powered Android smartphone called Exodus, which will come with its own cryptocurrencies...
May 16, 2018
Mobile World Congress kicks off with Android Go and Galaxy S9
The mobile-phone industry has swooped in to Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress event this week. Expect all manner of new smartphones to be announced, as well as related technologies. The news got underway this...
February 26, 2018
Apple and Google app stores reached new heights in Q3 2017
The latest report from research firm App Annie claims that combined app downloads on iOS’ App Store and Android’s Google Play were nearly 26bn in the third quarter of this year. That’s up 8% year-on-year, and as...
October 24, 2017
Google takes on Shazam with ‘Now Playing’ smartphone feature
Last night’s Google press event also saw the unveiling of the company’s new own-brand Pixel 2 Android smartphones, complete with a feature that treads firmly on Shazam’s toes by identifying music that’s currently...
October 5, 2017
Google takes on Apple with Android’s ARCore AR tech
Music Ally has been keenly following developments with Apple’s new ARKit technology, which will bake augmented-reality features into the next major update for its iOS software. The theory is that it will spur a new wave...
August 30, 2017
Record Bird launches its Android smartphone app
Austrian startup Record Bird has been picking up some traction with its iOS app. It sucks in people’s favourite artists on Spotify and Facebook, then provides them with a feed of new releases, videos, reviews and other...
July 5, 2017
Google’s latest Android milestone: 2bn active devices
In recent years, we’ve thought a lot about Apple’s iOS as a platform for music services and apps, but perhaps not as much as we should have done about Google’s Android. At the company’s opening keynote for its...
May 18, 2017
Google Play Music to be Samsung’s default music service
Samsung has tried and failed several times to get a successful digital-music service off the ground, despite the popularity of its smartphones. Now the world’s biggest manufacturer of Android devices is taking what is...
April 24, 2017
Mobile apps spending expected to reach $81bn in 2021
Analytics firm App Annie has published its latest set of predictions for the smartphone apps market in 2017. Obligatory big numbers: it anticipates 195bn global downloads across Android and iOS this year, with smartphone...
March 30, 2017


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Pedego Prince Edward County Helps Restore Millennium Trail
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Recently Patrick “Bear” Maloney, the co-owner of Pedego Prince Edward County, stood on a gravel path next to over three dozen people with shovels and announced that a refurbished recreational trail will breathe new life into the Prince Edward County region of south-eastern Ontario.
Bear has been the Chair of the Prince Edward County Trails committee for the past two years and was on hand last week to announce the Millennium Trail Upgrade Project was officially underway. Thanks to his efforts and those of the committee, they had raised over $120,000 in funds and, when finished, the 48-kilometre resurfaced trail will help County residents to better enjoy walking, cycling and, of course, electric biking, for years to come.
In the coming weeks the trail will be graded and six inches of limestone screenings will be laid down on most of the trail except the section in Wellington, that was resurfaced by the Wellington Rotary Club a few years ago, where a 2 inch resurfacing will be done.
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Bear has been a cycling advocate for over 40 years and a member of the the PEC Trails Committee for about 2.5 years. Together with his wife Gillian, they own Pedego Prince Edward County, which opened last year and then moved to a new location right by the Trail earlier this year. They’ve found great success renting electric bicycles to tourists who want to ride the Millennium Trail as well as take in the beaches, towns and farmland of the beautiful county. The couple also sell 18 different models of Pedego electric bikes, from colourful cruisers and cargo bikes to dual suspension mountain bikes and fat tire bikes, perfect for riding on sand or in snow.
Interestingly, the reason they decided to open the Pedego store was because Bear was volunteering on the PEC Trails Committee. “We were planning the resurfacing of the old rail trail, raising the money from the private sector to do it. I was pitching about the business and tourism opportunities and I drank my own Kool-Aid,” Bear says. “We want our store to be an oasis on the Millennium Trail, the place to stop for bike repairs, coffee breaks, rentals and more.”


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A German court on Saturday ordered a temporary halt in the clearing of thousands of trees to make room for a Tesla development site in a forest southeast of Berlin.
The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg ruled that they must first consider the appeal from Green League Brandenburg, an environmental association. The League filed an emergency appeal on Friday to stop the clearing of forests for the “Gigafactory.”
The court decided that the felling could be halted because it would have been completed in just three more days, and the court did not want to dismiss the activist group’s appeal without hearing it.
In response to the court order, Tesla has highlighted a company webpage detailing the company’s plans to “replant an area three times the factory plot, with mixed trees native to their habitat and the potential to become an old growth forest,” along with other environmental measures.
Tesla plans to begin production at the new facility at a rate of 10,000 cars a week by 2021. The site would be the company’s fourth “Gigafactory,” with others located in Nevada, New York and Shanghai.
The final construction permit for the project has not yet been issued. Complaints against the factory can be filed until March 3, after which the final permit will be reviewed.


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Gemini crypto exchange has announced the integration of wireless hardware security keys, a two-factor authentication (2FA) method into its mobile app, in a bid to improve security for mobile users.
Gemini is now the first #crypto exchange to offer support for hardware security keys across both Android and iOS #mobile devices via WebAuthn! Add a hardware #security key to your Gemini account for the strongest level of protection.
More on our blog ⬇ https://t.co/Rh2EuJZn2a
— Gemini (@Gemini) July 14, 2020
The exchange noted that the hardware security keys would allow users to authenticate their Gemini accounts through a cryptographic proof of a user’s identity.
Notably, hardware security keys are regarded as one of the most secure means of account authentication currently available, unlike their SMS-based counterparts.
Additionally, the hardware security keys verify user identity without the usual need to send out an SMS or a one-time password (OTP). Also, hardware security keys stop phishing attacks and prevent sim swapping, replay, or person-in-the-middle attacks, which usually rely on SMS or OTPs.
Gemini crypto exchange hardware security keys powered by Yubico
It is worth noting that the current generation of USB-based security keys hasn’t been compatible with most mobile devices. This has been a major source of concern also with most people opting for mobile-based web surfing,
Gemini crypto exchange has to partnered with the hardware security key manufacturer, Yubico, to unveil the new hardware security keys. By extending wireless support across both android and iOS devices, this invariably solves the problem making it possible to use such security measures.
Users are now able to use their mobile devices to sign in via USB and near-field communication (NFC) security keys. Mobile devices will authenticate via an internet standard known as Web Authentication (WebAuthn), a type of security interface designed for validating multiple users of internet applications using public-key cryptography.
Notably, the exchange added extra feature new security layers, including TouchID and Windows Hello.
Users must register at least two hardware keys
Gemini further explains that users would need to register at least two hardware keys to make use of the new login method.
Notably, one must be supported by the user’s mobile device and another cross-platform hardware security key such as Yubikey. This would invariably give users the need access to better utilize the hardware security keys.
Gemini crypto exchange claims to be the first crypto exchange to roll out support for hardware security keys on iOS and Android mobile devices. It’s also worth noting that Gemini recently became the first exchange to integrate with Samsung’s blockchain wallet, enabling the US and Canadian based citizens to buy and sell crypto through Gemini’s mobile app.


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Qubic Games has announced another of its AiRace series for a Nintendo handheld. AiRace Speed will be hitting the 3DS eShop for $4.99 in late summer, which basically gives it a few more weeks to launch.
The announcement promises 18 tracks complete with tunnels and shortcuts, five jets, online leaderboards, and 3D effects (assuming you're not playing on a 2DS). This marks the third game in the AiRace series that started on the DSi.
BOOM video 16025


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Asia cargo monthly: Demand continues to grow in May but utilisation slips
25 / 06 / 2018
Asian airlines continued to see cargo volumes grow at a steady pace in May, but capacity additions mean that freight load factors came under pressure.
The region’s largest carrier group, Cathay Pacific, was the only airline in our monthly wrap-up that saw its cargo load factor increase during the month on the back of strong demand growth.
In total, the carrier saw cargo traffic increase by 7.3% year on year in May to 965m cargo and mail revenue tonne kms, while capacity was up 3.8%.
As a result, its cargo load factor for the month increased to 68.6% compared with 66.3% last year.
Traffic growth is slightly below its performance for the first five months of the year, for which the carrier has recorded an increase of 7.7%.
The airline group said its cargo business benefited from the addition of new services.
Cathay Pacific Director Commercial and Cargo Ronald Lam said: “In terms of cargo, we had stable uplift in May. Higher transhipment flow across the network helped improve our load factor, while yield also strengthened.
“Our new European routes to Brussels, Copenhagen and Dublin were all launched smoothly and are performing in line with our expectations.”
Elsewhere load factors came under pressure as supply additions outstripped demand.
The region’s second largest combination carrier, Air China, saw demand during the month increase by 5.6% year on year to 683m revenue freight tonne kms. This compares with 9.3% growth over the first five months, thanks to a very strong January and February.
However, the increase in traffic is outstripped by a 7.8% jump in capacity, pushing its load factor down to 57.6% against 58.8% last year.
It was a similar story at China Southern where it recorded a 2.2% increase in demand to 640m revenue freight tonne kms, but capacity was up by 7.8%.
As a result its cargo load factor for May slipped to 53% against 56% last year.
At Singapore Airlines (SIA) Cargo demand in traffic terms decreased by 3.3% to 592m freight tonne kms, although there was a small increase in tonnage carried, and capacity was up 2.7%.
As a result it saw its cargo load factor slip to 62.6% against 66.5% last year.
Finally, China Airlines saw its May load factor slip to 70.8% from 73.1% last year despite traffic increasing 5.8% and Eva Air’s was down at 84.9% against 86.6% last year, even though cargo traffic increased by 4.2%.
Despite the weaker load factors, both China Airlines and Eva Air managed to record their highest yield levels of the year so far in May.


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The Home Depot reported sales of $41.1 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an increase of $3.1 billion, or 8.1 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2020. Comparable sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 increased 4.5 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 3.4 percent.
"I am very proud of our associates, who continue to demonstrate a relentless focus on serving our customers," said Craig Menear, chairman and CEO. "As a result of their efforts, we achieved a milestone of over $40 billion in quarterly sales for the first time in company history. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to our team, as well as our supplier and supply chain partners, as they continue to operate in this dynamic and challenging environment."
The company operates 2,298 Home Depot retail stores and employs approximately 500,000 associates.
For more information, visit homedepot.com.


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- Extra Points
- What we can learn from the BYU/Built Bar/NIL dustup
What we can learn from the BYU/Built Bar/NIL dustup
Rule #1: Get it in writing.
Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.
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If you work in the college athletics industry, or study it professionally, and would like to beta-test the game, please shoot me an email at [email protected], and I can send you access to a limited beta. We’re trying to get feedback on the realism of the questions, the probability of success for certain options, etc. Once we’re a little farther along in the design process, we’ll open things for a wider variety of beta testers.
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The vast majority of NIL activity, be that brand or collective-based, happens without public complaint. If one party doesn’t fulfill their obligations, generally, the dispute doesn’t hit the newspapers. But last week was an exception.
On May 28, the Salt Lake Tribune published a long story on how many BYU football players were frustrated that multiple NIL opportunities had not turned out how they had expected, with the story centering on a partnership involving Built Bar. Built Bar famously entered into an agreement to pay scholarship athletes $1,000, and the value of full tuition for BYU’s walk-ons, the team-wide NIL deal for a major FBS program. According to multiple press accounts, uBilt followed through and paid the $1,000 and the tuition.
But, via the Tribune:
A few days later, the Deseret News (an outlet owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the same church that owns and operates BYU), published a follow-up story, confirming that many players believed they would be earning a percentage of the profits from CougarTail bars. Built CEO Nick Greer said that wasn’t the case. Via the story:
The story also ended with this quote:
Greer is reportedly making good on that promise. According to a Tribune story published on June 2nd, all BYU players who participated in Built NIL activities will be paid an additional $600, which should more than cover the disputed royalty payments.
So over the course of a week, we heard of athletes expressing frustration over a deal, the CEO going on the defense, and then the players getting more money.
Alls well that ends well, right? In this very specific case, sure. But I think there are some other important takeaways from this entire news cycle that everybody, from athletes to schools to brands, ought to keep in mind.
Get everything in writing. No matter what
I understand that contracts can get expensive. Bringing in lawyers and creating five-page PDFs over a $250 deal probably isn’t economical for a lot of NIL activity.
But getting everything in writing is free, and it ought to be mandatory before anybody enters into any sort of NIL agreement. It isn’t a sign of a lack of trust between the parties to insist on having a copy of the mutually agreed upon terms. It’s simply a way for the school, brand, and athlete to be protected.
From talking to a few folks in and around BYU football, and from my reading all of these stories, the entire Built drama seemed to have stemmed not from a desire by the brand to rip off athletes, but a misunderstanding. If every athlete had a copy of the exact terms and the exact payment schedule they agreed on, there wouldn’t have been such hurt feelings and confusion.
Brands need to know what happens if an athlete is unable to fulfill their end of the bargain. Athletes need to know exactly how much they’re being paid, what services they’re being asked to provide, and when the agreement will be fulfilled. Brands (and schools, and collectives) need to err on the side of overcommunicating, given that they’re working with very busy young people who typically do not have extensive experience with contracts and marketing efforts.
Beware of agencies and offers that seem too good to be true
The saga around Built Bar dominated the headlines and social media conversation, but the original Tribune story covered several other NIL deals that didn’t pan out. For example,
Here’s a dirty little secret about a lot of smaller NIL agencies. The math doesn’t work for the firms to stay in business.
Typical sports and marketing agencies typically take a percentage of each marketing deal as a fee (occasionally as high as 35%, but generally around 20%), rather than charging flat rates. That model can work very well if the firm represents a lot of athletes, or is able to broker very lucrative contracts.
But boutique agencies aren’t typically representing college athletes that can command market-driven NIL deals in the high five figures…they’re representing athletes that are unlikely to have long NFL or NBA careers, or whose individual marketability is minimal. You can’t build a business taking cuts from a $500 deal here or an affiliate marketing deal there. It’s why many agents, if they aren’t involved in collective agreements, don’t even bother with college athletes anymore.
Any athlete getting offers from an agency, even if they’re licensed to represent professional athletes, ought to ask tough questions about what happens if the deals don’t come, or if the firm goes out of business, just to make sure the athlete isn’t holding the bag. Athletes and their families also need to have very realistic exceptions about what kind of market-driven money is actually out there….anybody selling huge paydays for athletes that a) don’t have massive social media followings and b) aren’t going to command huge checks from collectives is probably full of crap.
For example, back in August of last year, BYU announced a five-year deal with a company called Ocavu to produce NFTs, a deal the company believed could deliver up to $20 million to athletes in the first year.
I spoke to the Tribune about that story, and I told them that I thought this projection was categorically insane. The NFL and Web3 market had already crashed, and few companies were able to demonstrate that a robust market for “experiences” actually existed. Larger brands in the P5 had already turned down major NFT partnerships, and I worried that entering into and promoting this partnership would expose BYU, and its athletes, to reputational risk.
Lo and behold,
If it walks like a scam, talks like a scam, and issues bold predictions like a scam, it’s probably a scam. Yesterday, it was NFTs and Web3 projects. Today, it might be AI start-ups. I’m sure there will be MLM-like thing tomorrow. Athletes and schools need to be cautious.
For what it’s worth, I actually think BYU has done some pretty forward-thinking things with NIL, from working with Chamber of Commerce organizations to helping athletes get real estate certifications, and I know several BYU athletes have done legitimate and successful NIL deals….but it would appear that not every opportunity in this market is a great one.
Finally, you can’t get too emotional about this business
Reading between the lines, I think Greer and Built were really bothered by the insinuation that they weren’t operating on the up-and-up-with BYU athletes. The company did pay out the tuition money like they said they would, and the company’s relationship with BYU extends far beyond this particular NIL campaign.
In fact, Built went above and beyond their original commitment, since BYU actually raised tuition since the campaign began, and Built covered the new price. The firm has a long relationship with BYU athletics beyond the campaign, and I can understand why negative publicity felt particularly hurtful.
Still, via the Deseret News story,
Respectfully, this isn’t how marketing works!
Let’s say you have a company that makes protein bars. The overwhelming majority of the bars taste great, are packed with nutrients, and do exactly what they’re supposed to do. But let’s say, hypothetically, that a tiny percentage…say, .05%, of all of these protein bars are actually full of toothpaste. Whenever somebody bites into one of those unfortunate bars, they get a mouthful of the worst pre-workout ever.
If that happened, you don’t get to crow about the hundreds of thousands of delicious protein bars that you sold that didn’t have any toothpaste in them. You can’t hide behind all of the other successful workouts you’ve fueled and insinuate that stories about the toothpaste bars are part of some smear campaign. You gotta fix the toothpaste bars.
Remember, it wasn’t just Salt Lake Tribune reporters who were saying that BYU football players felt like their deal wasn’t being honored…it was BYU football players, even players who told the Deseret News the same thing. Those are the very people you’re trying to help!
Doing NIL work can be a very emotional enterprise. Fans, agents, or partisan media try to take things out of context, and not everybody has all the information they might need. But everybody, (athlete, brand, parents, school, fans, etc) needs to try to approach these conversations and agreements as levelheaded as possible.
In business, sometimes agreements don’t work out. Not every NIL deal is going to be profitable for brands, and sometimes, despite best intentions, companies go under.
My hope is everybody involved can use these events as a learning experience, so stories of broken promises, unfulfilled obligations and hurt feelings become more and more rare.
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Hiring for sales representatives in Miami is going strong. Employers in the industry posted 170 new jobs over the past week, and 694 in the last month, more than for any other job category in the area, according to ZipRecruiter, a leading online employment marketplace.
Local sales representative also came in second in terms of local employers adding new jobs by occupation. In the past month, 188 companies listed open jobs for Miami-based workers in the industry.
One of the top employers seeking local sales representatives is Healthy Water Treatment Company. "[It] has been improving the quality of water for homeowners for over 60 years," according to one of the company's recently posted job openings.
Jobs posted by Healthy Water Treatment Company in the past month in the area hav included sales associates and brand ambassadors.
This story was created automatically using local jobs data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.